Quick facts: The Gators enter their third year in AAA in a restructured region and will play only five region games this year ... Waters will be starting at quarterback for the second straight year after guiding Bulloch Academy into the state playoffs last season before losing to Stratford Academy in the first round ... Hodges, who coached Statesboro in the 1970s, was a defensive coordinator with Bulloch Academy for seven years before becoming head coach last year ... “We’ve got the most speed on the team since I’ve been here, and we’ll have to take advantage of our speed because depth is always an issue,” Hodges said.

Quick facts: The Crusaders are transitioning to GISA Class A and are looking to build on momentum gained during a two-game winning streak to close the 2011 season ... Rogers was the team’s leading rusher with more than 1,200 yards as a freshman ... Horne is being recruited by Furman University and Shorter College, and O’Neal is being recruited by Mercer University ... “Depth will always be a concern but we’ve got more than 30 players this year, and we should be more competitive against team of our size,” Smith said.

Quick facts: Ridgeland and Hardeeville were combined on June 11, and the newly formed school will keep Ridgeland’s Jaguar mascot and Hardeeville’s former head coach, Raley ... Raley compiled a 17-37 record in five years at Hardeeville and guided the Gators to the seminfinals of the South Carolina Class A playoffs in 2010 ... R-H will play in Region 6-AA — also known as the Charleston region ... Ridgeland advanced to the second round of the Class A playoffs last season ... Doe was Hardeeville’s leading rusher last season with nearly 700 yards ... Jaguars retained Ridgeland’s offensive coaching staff ... “The kids are fine with everything and excited about it,” Raley said. “It was at the last minute, but we had an inkling that it was coming so we had a plan. We’re trying to work around it the best we can.”

Quick facts: Hendrix, 34, accepted his first head coaching position after serving as an assistant coach at Claxton for seven years ... The Tigers last qualified for the Class A state playoffs in 2007 ... Claxton loses standout quarterback Michael Peel, now at Georgia on a baseball scholarship ... Taylor and junior Tanner Lee are competing for the starting quarterback spot ... Tigers return 10 starters from a team that lost the Region 3-A play-in game ... “We lost a big group of seniors, so we’re looking to be competitive enough to earn enough points to get into the playoffs,” Hendrix said. “It’s kind of a rebuilding year because we lost so many seniors.”

Aug. 31 at Tattnall County

Sept. 7 at Treutlen

Sept. 21 Emanuel County Institute

Sept. 28 at Wheeler County

Oct. 5 Savannah Christian

Oct. 12 at Portal

Oct. 19 Savannah Country Day

Oct. 25 Calvary

Nov. 2 at Jenkins County

Nov. 9 Region playoff

BLUFFTON

Coach: Ken Cribb (third year, 26-3)

Last year: 14-1 (won Class AAA lower state championship and lost in Class AAA state championship game)

Quick facts: Bluffton moves up to Class AAAA this year, and the Bobcats return seven players on the record-setting offensive side of the ball ... The Bobcats set a SCHSL record for points with 814 en route to winning the Class AAA lower state championship and playing for the state championship ... Frazier tossed 56 touchdowns last season and has been offered a scholarship by Newberry College ... Newberry has also extended scholarship offers to Webber and Scott ... Ford is already being recruited by Clemson and South Carolina.

Quick facts: Portal was co-subregion champs in 2011 with Emanuel County Institute and Johnson County in Region 3-A West ... After starting 1-3, the Panthers won five straight games ... Street started several games as a sophomore after Portal lost its starting quarterback in the first game of the season ... Reese returned two interceptions for touchdowns in 2011 ... Portal’s defense only surrendered more than 20 points twice last season.

Aug. 31 Southeast Bulloch

Sept. 7 at Tattnall County

Sept. 14 Johnson County

Sept. 28 at Emanuel County Institute

Oct. 5 at Jenkins County

Oct. 12 Claxton

Oct. 19 at Savannah Christian

Oct. 26 Savannah Country Day

Nov. 2 at Calvary Day

Nov. 9 Region 3-A playoff game

METTER

Coach: Mike West (third year, 10-10)

Last year: 5-5 Region 3-A (did not qualify for Class AA state playoffs)

Quick facts: Four of the Tigers’ five losses came in games that were decided in the fourth quarter ... Metter is moving to Class AA to be a member of Region 2-AA and will be one of the smallest schools competing in Class AA ... Metter hasn’t qualified for the state playoffs since 2003 ... “Even though we will be one of the smaller schools in Class AA, I told our kids they can only put 11 on the field at a time, and if we stay healthy and work hard, we should be able to make a good run,” West said.

Aug. 31 at Emanuel County Institute

Sept. 7 Bacon County

Sept. 14 at Benedictine

Sept. 21 Toombs County

Sept. 28 at Vidalia

Oct. 5 Jeff Davis

Oct. 19 at Atkinson County

Oct. 26 McIntosh County Academy

Nov. 2 at Bryan County

Nov. 9 Long County

TATTNALL COUNTY

Coach: Jeff Kaiser (seventh season, 38-27)

Last year: 6-5, 5-2 Region 2-AA (lost in first round of Class AA state playoffs)

Quick facts: Tattnall County is one of many teams on the move this year as the Battle Creek Warriors transition from Class AA to Class AAA ... Tattnall County will play in Region 1-AAA with Savannah High, Johnson and Beach from Savannah ... Purcell threw for more than 1,200 yards and ran for more than 500 last year, and Overton ran for more than 600 yards ... The Battle Creek Warriors return only five of 22 starters from last year’s team and three starting offensive linemen have never played in a varsity game.

Quick facts: Pennington guided the Blue Devils to an undefeated regular season and won his fourth region championship as Statesboro’s head coach ... One year after advancing to the semifinals of the Class AAAA state playoffs, the Blue Devils lost in OT to Thomas County Central in the first round of the state playoffs last season ... Statesboro will have eight new starters on this

year’s team but all four starting linebackers return ... Reclassification brought 2011 Class AAA state champion Burke County in Statesboro’s region ... Daniels ran for more than 1,700 yards and was an all-state selection as a sophomore. He has been recruited but not offered a scholarship by NCAA Division Ischools such as N.C. State, Missouri and Auburn ... “Our motivation is from the standpoint that we want to be better tomorrow than we were today,” Pennington said.

Quick facts: Southeast Bulloch will begin playing home games at Fred Shaver Field, a new stadium that seats nearly 3,000 people ... More than $5 million in renovations also included the George Roebuck Fieldhouse ... The Yellow Jackets are moving from Region 3-AA to Region 1-AAA with Savannah, Johnson and Beach ... In 2011 Southeast Bulloch started 17 sophomores and the Yellow Jackets return 16 of 22 starters this season ... “That new stadium won’t tackle or block anyone, but it’s very inspirational for the kids,” Collins said.

Quick facts: After an up and down 2011, the Yellow Jackets return nine defensive starters and six offensive starters for 2012 ... Wayne County will try to replace standout quarterback Greyson Lambert, now playing at the University of Virginia ... Sanders was an all-region performer in 2011 who has verbal scholarship offers from Georgia and South Florida entering his junior year ... Patterson was an all-region selection in 2011 and has been offered a scholarship by Clemson ... Coatney played quarterback for Zeeland West High School in Michigan last year, steering his team to an undefeated season and Class 4 state championship.

Quick facts: The Bulldogs have had three straight losing seasons after a deep run in the 2008 Class AA state playoffs ... Hampton is major talent getting looks from several colleges ... The Bulldogs won their final two games of 2011 over Brantley County and Long County.

Quick facts: The Indians started 5-0 in 2011 before losing nearly their entire starting backfield to injury during a two-game stretch ... Both Foster and McBride are preseason Class AA all-state selections ... Foster ran for 480 yards in only three and a half games before breaking his leg on the third play of the fifth game ... Foster won an individual state championship in weightlifting in the spring ... McBride has received scholarship offers from Furman, Middle Tennessee State and South Alabama and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.53 seconds during a summer camp ... Johnson carries a 4.0 GPA and has received interest from Ivy League schools Harvard and Yale.

Quick facts: The Buccaneers finished 4-3 in Region 2-AA and lost in the first round of the 2011 Class AA state playoffs to Fitzgerald ... Last year was the Buccaneers’ first losing season in more than a decade ... Cummings accounted for more than 1,000 all-purpose yards as a freshman last season ... Herrington was the starting junior varsity quarterback last season ... “When someone new comes in, everybody wants to think it’s going to be sunshine and lollipops, but the truth is that there was a transition and new things to learn,” Gosse said. “Now that the learning curve is over, we are looking to excel with kids who understand what we’re trying to do.”

Quick facts: The Blue Tide have won one game in the past three seasons and finished 0-10 last season in Flott’s second year at Long County but lost three games by seven points or less ... Nelson is a returning all-region selection who led the team in rushing with nearly 800 yards ... Turner is a three-year starter at quarterback ... “We need to win one of those close games to get the belief level up,” Flott said. “We have to believe we can win every time we step on the field, and that comes with hard work. I’m pleased with the work we’re doing, and we can’t wait to get the season started.”